How to Best Use Your Business Social Media

Every opportunity you have to increase your brand visibility is important for your Box. Social media platforms are something nearly everyone checks on a daily — if not hourly — basis, so using them is to your advantage. However, in such a saturated social media world, it’s hard to know exactly how to use them for your benefit.

Your members are what make your Box unique. Posting content catered to their likes, dislikes or events they are attending can catch their eye. It is even better to tag their accounts and hope they will share the post with their friends — a.k.a. potential members.

Joey Dill, a Coach at CrossFit Hamilton in New Jersey, explained sharing videos and photos of members can boost their confidence. At the end of the day, people like seeing themselves or their friends doing things they enjoy.

“It really lights a fire for people to see themselves tagged in a post and gives them some more positive reinforcement, or more recognition, that they are directly or indirectly seeking,” said Dill. “I know when we do tag someone in a picture or a video, they can’t stop talking about it. They can’t stop thanking us and they are just very excited about being spotlighted on Instagram.”

Get Others to Post About You

However, solely posting on the Box’s social media might not always be enough. It is good for the community to see more than just your gym spreading the word of specials or how much fun it is. Having staff share content regarding your business is important, but so is giving members a reason to post about the Box.

Luciano Sperduto, a co-owner of CrossFit Orlando, said while they continually post on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, seeing others spread the word is just as powerful.

“At the end of the day the goal is to drive on all platforms, but if the members are posting about you too then that’s a huge win for the Box,” said Sperduto. “If they are posting content, then that just means our Box will pop up more on people’s feed.”

Testing Out Social Media Competitions

At CrossFit 615 in Nashville, Tennessee, Coach Andy Hunt explained weekly social media competitions are a huge part of their strategy in getting people to share the word about the Box.

After partnering with Paleo Works, a local Paleo food company, social media became a huge success for the gym through a weekly challenge. The members are encouraged to post to their Instagram feed and Facebook page with a video each week, tag CrossFit 615 and Paleo Works, and use a hashtag created to go with the challenge. The winner gets a free bag of food from Paleo Works.

“We started that competition almost a year ago and we have seen a really great response from it,” said Hunt. “I have seen a lot more free trials being taken advantage of and more website presence and social media engagement.”

Trial and Error

Social media is very much a trial and error area. Learning from your own mistakes or the mistakes of accounts you follow can help you know what content is relevant and why. At CrossFit Hamilton, they started with a social media calendar, but lately have found that having more fun with it is yielding better results.

“The problem that occurred with the calendar was that it became sort of routine,” said Dill. “For example, Monday was a member highlight, Tuesday we would highlight some nutritional information, Wednesday we would highlight something PR and Thursday we would highlight a Coach. We found that to be a little too routine and we wanted to have more fun with it and not see it as a job.”

Deciding on what to post can sometimes be tricky. Posting too many memes might not show off your Box enough, but it can also be a way to be relatable and show you are light hearted. Member experience is always a good place to start when choosing what to show off. “Try to recognize everybody but yourself, or even your top athletes, because they get recognized all the time,” said Dill.

Social media is a great way to get potential members to dip their toes in the CrossFit water. They will see your posts and become interested in what you are offering, hopefully resulting in a new member down the road.

“If you want someone to give you a review, you have to ask them,” said Hunt. “If you want someone to come in your gym, you have to ask them. By doing social media consistently, that is the ask.”

Kaitlyn is a staff writer for Peake Media. Contact her at kaitlync@peakemedia.com.

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Box Pro is a business resource for Affiliates and Coaches. As a rapidly growing industry, it’s our mission to help unravel the successes in the industry to help newcomers be more successful in their own Box business ventures. Our mission is to provide guidance and empowerment through education and strategy. Box Pro is an independent magazine with no affiliation with CrossFit, Inc.